Share This Article
Sudbury’s little league baseball hub, known as Featherland Park, has been recreation land for over six decades. But how did it get its name? And what’s the story behind the land?
As it turns out, it’s a pretty cool story.
Featherland Farm began as a humble chicken farm. But it grew to be a large operation thanks to Edith Nason Buckingham. Buckingham is a fascinating figure in her own right. A deeply-researched profile on Lady Science, calls out that she was “the first woman to receive a PhD in Zoology from Radcliffe College in 1911.”
In the late 1920’s she purchased Featherland Farm, and proceeded to grow it into a fairly large operation. Research from Lady Science indicated that she grew the farm from 1,000 to 7,000 birds, nationwide shipping, with additional crops grown on-site and an equipment rental business added to the property by the 1950s.
Her obituary highlighted that she also raised Old English Sheep Dogs on the farm, and called out her involvement in the nearby St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church. Other records indicate that she was quite involved in the community, including as a member of the Sudbury Garden Club and the Sudbury Woman’s Club.
Buckingham passed away in the early 1950s, and the land was acquired by the Town of Sudbury in 1960 from a different owner – Israel Bluestein. The price tag? $29,950 for 32 acres and a handful of small structures. (Article 10, page 24)
A prior attempt to acquire the property failed at a Special Town Meeting in December of 1959. The price tag was too high (over $50,000) and additional study and appraisals were completed in advance of the 1960 Annual Town Meeting, where it passed. That Town Meeting put the land under the control of the Park and Recreation Commission, which oversaw the conversion of the property into one of Sudbury’s most popular recreation hubs over the ensuing decades.
In 1961, Sudbury became an accredited member of the National Little League. Over 150 boys tried out for baseball in April of that year, while the organizers pleaded for public help in building a proper field for them. One letter in the Sudbury Citizen said “Help for this project is urgently needed if the boys are to have a completed field in time for opening day.” It went on to encourage able and willing residents to show up on April 22 with “rakes, shovels, spreaders, wheelbarrows, etc.”
By May of 1962, the baseball field at upper Featherland was dedicated to Stanley E. Phippard on opening day for the little league. The league had 6 teams that year, according to the Sudbury Citizen, including the Braves, Dodgers, Red Sox and Yankees, Giants and Orioles. The Red Sox beat the Dodgers 21-4 that day.
A few years later, in 1965, the final tennis courts were officially opened to the public. By 1970, the Town was upgrading the parking and acquiring the parcel of land that has a structure near the entrance to Lower Featherland. The 1970 Town Proceedings included a diagram of a Featherland Park that most residents would recognize in 2025.
